This work presents a simulation of the plume trajectory emitted by flaringactivities of the Miguel Hidalgo Refinery in Mexico. The flame of arepresentative sour gas flare is modeled with a CFD combustion code in orderto estimate emission rates of combustion by-products of interest for airquality: acetylene, ethylene, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, soot andsulfur dioxide. The emission rates of NO and SO were comparedwith measurements obtained at Tula as part of MILAGRO field campaign. Therates of soot, VOCs and CO emissions were compared with estimates obtainedby Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo (IMP). The emission rates of thesespecies were further included in WRF-Chem model to simulate the chemicaltransport of the plume from 22 to 27 March of 2006. The model presentsreliable performance of the resolved meteorology, with respect to the MeanAbsolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), mean bias (BIAS),vector RMSE and Index of Agreement (IOA).WRF-Chem outputs of SO and soot were compared with surfacemeasurements obtained at the three supersites of MILAGRO campaign. Theresults suggest a contribution of Tula flaring activities to the totalSO levels of 18% to 27% at the urban supersite (T0), and of 10% to18% at the suburban supersite (T1). For soot, the model predictslow contribution at the three supersites, with less than 0.1% at threesupersites. According to the model, the greatest contribution of bothpollutants to the three supersites occurred on 23 March, which coincideswith the third cold surge event reported during the campaign.
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